A fuel cell system is a kind of power generation system for generating electric energy via an electrochemical reaction between hydrogen and oxygen by a fuel cell. In general, fuel cell systems have been applied to fuel cell vehicles.
The fuel cell of the fuel cell system is configured by disposing separators (separating plates or bipolar plates) at both sides of a membrane-electrode assembly (MEA). The separator may form a reaction channel for supplying hydrogen and air to the membrane-electrode assembly and a cooling channel for circulating a coolant. The fuel cell generates electric energy via an electrochemical reaction between hydrogen and air and incidentally generates heat and water.
However, during the winter season with a low external temperature, water may be locally frozen in the reaction channel of the separator, causing ice that blocks the flow of hydrogen and air that move along the reaction channel.
If the reaction channel of the separator is clogged by ice blocking at the time of cold starting the fuel cell, the amount of hydrogen supplied to the membrane-electrode assembly through the reaction channel can be low.
According to conventional art, as hydrogen supplied to a membrane-electrode assembly becomes insufficient, the membrane-electrode assembly is non-reversibly degraded. This can degrade the performance of a fuel cell.
The above information disclosed in this Background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the disclosure and therefore it may contain information that does not form the prior art that is already known in this country to a person of ordinary skill in the art.